Laying down clown make me frown :( HELP!

[aaa1234]

So my clown started swimming pretty poorly this past saturday. Since then he hasnt got any better. Friday i did a 3 gallon water change in my 12g AP. All of my levels were up a little but at they were at the first little notch on the card that i compare my samples to. Although, my nitrates were up to 20 :/ I havent tested since, and am planning to tonight.

This morning i woke up and he wasnt moving at all, but he was breathing still. I heard something about hyposalinity helping things (i wasnt sure if it was for fish or not, i figured i would try something because i didnt just want him to sit there and die) So i put 1/4 of the tank water in a glad container, and filled the rest of it with just r/o water (non mixed) I put him in there before i left for work and ill be checking when i get home. My other clown is doing just fine though...hes swimming around all the caves and 'sleeping' in the top corner of the tank at night. Ive even seen em nudging my injured clown and swimming around it trying to get it to get up and swim.

So did i do the right thing? Give me some pointers please. If i can, i want to save this poor fellow.

-Sven

 

[aaa1234]

I should also add that he hasnt eaten, that i know of. Hes just sat at the bottom on his side...breathing deeply. Oh yeah and this morning i also noticed that his gills were starting to get a pale color to them, aside from the orange.

 

[wicked_NaCl_h2o]

Sorry to tell you this but I have had a clown do the very same thing. It wasn't very active, it wouldn't eat but my lfs didn't give me brine shrimp usually a clown that won't eat pellets or flakes..will eat brine shrimp. Maybe if I had brine shrimp it would have survived but maybe not. I wish I could have saved that little clown but it ended up dying. It broke my heart to see it go but Some times there is nothing you can possibly do. It might be stressed, sick or has internal parasites. When you see a fish laying on its side.. breathing heavy..its getting ready to die .